The higher order C_n dispersion coefficients for the alkali atoms

The van der Waals coefficients, from C_11 through to C_16 resulting from 2nd, 3rd and 4th order perturbation theory are estimated for the alkali (Li, Na, K and Rb) atoms. The dispersion coefficients are also computed for all possible combinations of the alkali atoms and hydrogen. The parameters are determined from sum-rules after diagonalizing the fixed core Hamiltonian in a large basis. Comparisons of the radial dependence of the C_n/r^n potentials give guidance as to the radial regions in which the various higher-order terms can be neglected. It is seen that including terms up to C_10/r^10 results in a dispersion interaction that is accurate to better than 1 percent whenever the inter-nuclear spacing is larger than 20 a_0. This level of accuracy is mainly achieved due to the fortuitous cancellation between the repulsive (C_11, C_13, C_15) and attractive (C_12, C_14, C_16) dispersion forces.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure

Ilmu Ekonomi Dan Pembangunan Indonesia (a Development Manifesto for Indonesia)

Economic development must be thought of as a process in which a gradual and self-reinforcing evolution of institutions (“working rules”) gets underway, all the while being informed and guided by the explicit purpose of: (1) encouraging economic growth; (2) enhancing the equality with which the benefits of that growth are shared; and (3) assuring that natural assets are not degraded in a manner that will compromise in the future either continued growth, or continued sharing of the benefits of growth. We see that institutions are central to growth, poverty alleviation, and sustainability. We also see that economic growth – increases in per capita GDP (or GNP) – is not sufficient unless it is also accompanied by a simultaneous and plausibly sustainable decrease in social inequality, and unless growth is not destructive of future growth and development.The process of economic development must incorporate three central ideas. These concepts concern ethics, law, and economics. Ethics concern collective perceptions of what is good and just not only in the present, but in terms of objectives to be pursued in the future. Law concern the application of the collective power to mediate and to enforce that ethical consensus – always with an eye to the future. Economics concerns the calculation of profit and loss predicated upon: (1) the ethical base of the nation state as a going concern; and (2) upon the legal foundations that give substance and content to the prior ethical foundations of that nation state

Transverse excitations of ultracold matter waves upon propagation past abrupt waveguide changes

The propagation of ultracold atomic gases through abruptly changing waveguide potentials is examined in the limit of non-interacting atoms. Time-independent scattering calculations of microstructured waveguides with discontinuous changes in the transverse harmonic binding potentials are used to mimic waveguide perturbations and imperfections. Three basic configurations are examined: step-like, barrier-like and well-like with waves incident in the ground mode. At low energies, the spectra rapidly depart from single-moded, with significant transmission and reflection of excited modes. The high-energy limit sees 100 percent transmission, with the distribution of the transmitted modes determined simply by the overlap of the mode wave functions and interference.Comment: 20 pages, 7 figures, under review PR

The periodic standing-wave approximation: post-Minkowski computation

The periodic standing wave method studies circular orbits of compact objects coupled to helically symmetric standing wave gravitational fields. From this solution an approximation is extracted for the strong field, slowly inspiralling motion of black holes and binary stars. Previous work on this model has dealt with nonlinear scalar models, and with linearized general relativity. Here we present the results of the method for the post-Minkowski (PM) approximation to general relativity, the first step beyond linearized gravity. We compute the PM approximation in two ways: first, via the standard approach of computing linearized gravitational fields and constructing from them quadratic driving sources for second-order fields, and second, by solving the second-order equations as an ``exact'' nonlinear system. The results of these computations have two distinct applications: (i) The computational infrastructure for the ``exact'' PM solution will be directly applicable to full general relativity. (ii) The results will allow us to begin supplying initial data to collaborators running general relativistic evolution codes.Comment: 19 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, RevTe

Large dimension Configuration Interaction calculations of positron binding to the group II atoms

The Configuration Interaction (CI) method is applied to the calculation of the structures of a number of positron binding systems, including e+Be, e+Mg, e+Ca and e+Sr. These calculations were carried out in orbital spaces containing about 200 electron and 200 positron orbitals up to l = 12. Despite the very large dimensions, the binding energy and annihilation rate converge slowly with l, and the final values do contain an appreciable correction obtained by extrapolating the calculation to the l to infinity limit. The binding energies were 0.00317 hartree for e+Be, 0.0170 hartree for e+Mg, 0.0189 hartree for e+Ca, and 0.0131 hartree for e+Sr.Comment: 13 pages, no figs, revtex format, Submitted to PhysRev

Collisional Cascades in Planetesimal Disks II. Embedded Planets

We use a multiannulus planetesimal accretion code to investigate the growth of icy planets in the outer regions of a planetesimal disk. In a quiescent minimum mass solar nebula, icy planets grow to sizes of 1000--3000 km on a timescale t = 15-20 Myr (a/30 AU)^3 where a is the distance from the central star. Planets form faster in more massive nebulae. Newly-formed planets stir up leftover planetesimals along their orbits and produce a collisional cascade where icy planetesimals are slowly ground to dust. The dusty debris of planet formation has physical characteristics similar to those observed in beta Pic, HR 4796A, and other debris disks. We derive dust masses for small particles, 1 mm and smaller, and large particles, 1 mm and larger, as a function of the initial conditions in the planetesimal disk. The dust luminosities derived from these masses are similar to those observed in Vega, HR 4796A, and other debris disks. The calculations produce bright rings and dark gaps. Bright rings occur where 1000 km and larger planets have recently formed. Dark gaps are regions where planets have cleared out dust or shadows where planets have yet to form.Comment: to be published in the Astronomical Journal, January 2004; 7 pages of text; 17 figures at http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/~kenyon/pf/emb-planet-figures.pdf; 2 animations at http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/~kenyon/pf/emb-planet-movies.htm

Positronium formation in positron-Li and positron-Na collisions at low energies

We present the positronium formation cross sections for a positron colliding with lithium and sodium for the collision energies from 0.01 eV up to 20 eV by the hyperspherical close-coupling method. For Li, our results agree with the experimental data and with other calculations. Our results for Na remain in agreement with previous close-coupling calculations, but do not support the latest experimental data for Na below 1 eV. To validate our model potentials and method in the low-energy regime, the binding energies of positronic lithium and positronic sodium as well as the s-wave scattering lengths for positronium scattering from Li⁺ and Na⁺ are also presented

Kinematics of the swimming of Spiroplasma

\emph{Spiroplasma} swimming is studied with a simple model based on resistive-force theory. Specifically, we consider a bacterium shaped in the form of a helix that propagates traveling-wave distortions which flip the handedness of the helical cell body. We treat cell length, pitch angle, kink velocity, and distance between kinks as parameters and calculate the swimming velocity that arises due to the distortions. We find that, for a fixed pitch angle, scaling collapses the swimming velocity (and the swimming efficiency) to a universal curve that depends only on the ratio of the distance between kinks to the cell length. Simultaneously optimizing the swimming efficiency with respect to inter-kink length and pitch angle, we find that the optimal pitch angle is 35.5$^\circ$ and the optimal inter-kink length ratio is 0.338, values in good agreement with experimental observations.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Collisional Cascades in Planetesimal Disks I. Stellar Flybys

We use a new multiannulus planetesimal accretion code to investigate the evolution of a planetesimal disk following a moderately close encounter with a passing star. The calculations include fragmentation, gas and Poynting-Robertson drag, and velocity evolution from dynamical friction and viscous stirring. We assume that the stellar encounter increases planetesimal velocities to the shattering velocity, initiating a collisional cascade in the disk. During the early stages of our calculations, erosive collisions damp particle velocities and produce substantial amounts of dust. For a wide range of initial conditions and input parameters, the time evolution of the dust luminosity follows a simple relation, L_d/L_{\star} = L_0 / [alpha + (t/t_d)^{beta}]. The maximum dust luminosity L_0 and the damping time t_d depend on the disk mass, with L_0 proportional to M_d and t_d proportional to M_d^{-1}. For disks with dust masses of 1% to 100% of the `minimum mass solar nebula' (1--100 earth masses at 30--150 AU), our calculations yield t_d approx 1--10 Myr, alpha approx 1--2, beta = 1, and dust luminosities similar to the range observed in known `debris disk' systems, L_0 approx 10^{-3} to 10^{-5}. Less massive disks produce smaller dust luminosities and damp on longer timescales. Because encounters with field stars are rare, these results imply that moderately close stellar flybys cannot explain collisional cascades in debris disk systems with stellar ages of 100 Myr or longer.Comment: 33 pages of text, 12 figures, and an animation. The paper will appear in the March 2002 issue of the Astronmomical Journal. The animation and a copy of the paper with full resolution figures are at S. Kenyon's planet formation website: http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/~kenyon/p